Voyage

by Comrade Bagel Muffin

Royaume de Sol

Escutcheon rubbed his eyes yawning as he woke up, it had been a long night, Red Wine had been paranoid about Myrrh's mother being in the campsite. It had struck Escutcheon as strange as well, but his spell at full strength hadn't done anything Fifty-one confirmed that it wasn't a changeling either. That had brought up several questions, and with some convincing Myrrh got her to drop her disguise. That had sparked a very long conversation. It was an hour before sunrise when Escutcheon finally managed to pull away, and get some sleep, after having explained who he was, who Dusk was, and the detection spell as well. After explaining everything about changelings for several hours they finally got to the DMZ forest. Much the Dusk's delight and his ease she was completely against harming the bats and was content and happy to let them have the forest. Most of the rest of the night's talks were a blur.

"Morning." Dusk yawned rolling out of the small sleeping bag she had crawled into at some point last night. "I can't believe how late that we managed to stay up. It almost felt like we were back at the colony."

"I'm just glad that the Guard Captain of Slo is completely against war." Escutcheon started getting his things ready his sapphire necklace glowing bright. He smiled looking at it. "It looks like things are finally going to go perfectly for once."

"Is that what that meant, I thought it just meant that you were happy."

"What gave you that idea?" Escutcheon asked Dusk just smiled and gave him a small kiss on the cheek his face became bright red and the gem lit up the whole tent.

"Ohhhh, cute foreplay, but if you really want to get the blood flowing you got to warp hooves and wings around him and give him a long passionate kiss." Gilda smirked opening the tent flap. Dusk gabbed her saddle bag and flung it at the laughing griffoness, her own face now glowing a bright red.

"You're terrible!"

"Come on you two, get your things and let's go they have a wagon coming to pick us up, I can show you how to make your filly friend a happy mare. It is a covered wagon after all." Gildan poked his head in, quickly taking Escutcheon's saddle bag to the face.

"Good aim." Myrrh walked into the tent past the two laughing griffons. "Are you two ready?" They both nodded as Turkeylegs looked between the two laughing griffons and the colt and filly. The large bird gave a soft chirp before picking them up and setting them on her back. "The wagons coming along the main road, we'll be taking it to the capital, under a royal escort, so get your things and lets get going." Myrrh left the tent followed by Turkeylegs. Gilda and Gildan tossed their saddle bags back to them as they walked behind the bird still stifling their laughter.

Most of the day was spent on a small trail, with them explaining to Myrrh's mother everything that had happened to them. Escutcheon explaining where he was from, and how he was trying to get back. She took it all in stride, nodding a few times, and then when they finished she just sighed. "Well I can't imagine you'd make that up, and give that I've seen the lights in the sky with my own eye's, and Red Wine isn't one to exaggerate on the power of a spell caster, I can't say there isn't a reason to believe you. And if you're going to go westward via the sea, you'll need all the luck and experience you can get."

"It's like cursed or something right?" Gildan asked.

"Oh for goodness sake, you sound like little Griffa you know that? Cursed ha, they've just never had the benefit of a flyer before. We'll have Escutcheon safely across the ocean and home before winter."

"Well if you two can do that, then maybe you aren't just a pair of noisy birds after all." Dusk smirked. "I'd love to see this Equestria, it sounds like such a lovely place."

"I'm just hoping Griffon Stone is real," Gildan said.

"He's go twenty coin riding on it." Gilda smirked.

"You bet against the pony that saw it?" Atlas asked.

"I'm just surprised that one of them bet that it was real." Red Wine dead panned. A moment later they arrived at a large clearing leading up to the road. Waiting for them were several wagons with guard escorts.

"Private Gemstone!" Myrrh waved to one of the guards. "Come on all of you, this will get us to the capital in no time." Myrrh helped getting them into the wagons. They continued on through the rest of the day and through the night. At morning Escutcheon and Dusk were woken up by Myrrh softly shacking them. "We're here you two, the capital, it's beautiful you've really got to see it." They both climbed out and looked at the mountainous city. The top of the mountain had been cut off and made flat, a pony made mesa. The palace rested on the top there were three layers of walls and the city went up the mountain to the plateau. Every building was made with beautiful stones catching the light of the morning sun.